Singapore Open Asian Windsurfing Champs - Shifty conditions on Day 4

by Hsin Ee on 27 Jan 2014 The fourth and final day of the SIM 33rd Singapore Open Asian Windsurfing Championship 2014, after three days of solid racing in good wind, concluded in shifty and variable wind conditions, leading to some interesting changes in positions on the leaderboard.

The tricky conditions not only proved challenging to the race committee but also to the competitors as tactics came into play. In the end, it was those who could best read the wind conditions who triumphed.

In the Techno 293 Youth Girl’s Thailand's Duangkamon Phongern defended her leaderboard position to take home the 2014 Techno 293 Asian Champion title. Finishing in second spot was Hong Kong’s Choi Wing Chi while 2013 SEA Games Silver Medalist Ynez Lim from Singapore, managed to secure a spot for Singapore in the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games (YOG) with a strong finish.

In the Techno 293 Youth Boy’s fleet, Hong Kong swept the top three podium positions after having led the competition in this divison throughout most of the competition. Japan’s Ikeda Kensei, Thailand’s Thanatip Suebyubon and Myanmar’s Set Naing Aung took the fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively, earning their countries a berth in the 2014 Nanjing YOG.

In the RS:X Men’s division, Thailand’s Ek Boonsawad cemented position on the top of the leaderboard winning the 2014 RS:X Men Asian Champion title with an almost perfect score of 11 points, while Taipei’s Chang Hao took second spot and Singapore’s Leong Ong settled for a third-placed finish despite a bullet in Race 11.

In the RS:X Youth Men fleet, Hong Kong’s Kikabhoy Rafeek who was the 2014 RS:X Youth Boys Asian Champion retained his title winning the 2014 RS:X Youth Men Asian Champion title after beating Thailand’s Chinain Pattharadnai and Hong Kong’s Hui Kwan Nok finished in second and third positions respectively.

Over in the RS:X Women’s division, the 2013 RS:X Youth Girls Asian Champion, Ngai Wai Yan from Hong Kong scored two bullets to regain her lead over fellow team-mate Lo Sin Lam. Ngai edged out Lo by a mere one point difference to take home the 2014 RS:X Women Asian Champion title while Thailand’s Siripon Kaewduang-Ngam finished third.

The Hong Kong team continued its dominance in the Mistral One Design Open class where 2013 Asian Champion Cheng Kwok Fai retained his title while his compatriot Lee Chun Ting took second spot.

In the RS:One class, Sri Lanka’s Chameera Gunawardena claimed the top spot after winning the tie-breaker with Thailand’s Ruamsap Phanuthat based on the number of best discards.

The close fight between the top three competitors in day two of the Formula Open class saw Singapore’s Lo Jun Hao winning the Open class after securing two wins over close rivals Chris Newman from Britain and Joshua Choo from Singapore. There were less surprises in the Raceboard class which Paul Leone finishing first on a perfect score.

The two-day of intense racing amongst windsurf novices in the fifth SIM Windsurfing Championship ended with SMU walking away with the highest number of medals. The battle for top honours was clearly between Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and Singapore Management University (SMU) right from the start. The closest fight was seen in the 6.2m Intermediate Mixed division which saw SIM’s Melvin Huang and SMU’s Kyne Aldrich Chan switching positions from race to race. Finally, it was SIM’s Huang who triumphed with a two point win over SMU’s Chan.

The event is one of the most successful editions of the Singapore Open Windsurfing Championship that has been held with 136 participants from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, Great Britain, Argentina, and Full results